News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-11-03
NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN.
A Sensible Man Never Fools with
Either a Gun or a Pistol.


| lIAoiu
Never handle firearms carelessly.
used to do it, but of late years it makes
me boil to have anybody point gun o.
| pistol toward me. Two events in my
life have done more to inspire within
me a wholesome respect for firearms
than anything else that ever happened
| to me.
When [ was about Is years old [ Dor,
rowed shotgun of chum.
els it loaded 2" was the first question
asked.
"No," was the reply, and I, like q
goose. believed what he said.
Ga the way home wit it, I met anoth-
er boy, who began lodging behind the
shade trees as L approached, Indian
fashion I, of course, must do my part
of the tragedy, so cooking the gun, ]
began to skulk, too, until, when We met,
to show that that he was plainly in my
power, [ put the muzzle of the gun
up close to his nose and pulled the
trigger.
[ thought no more of the circum-
stance until evening, when I began
cleaning the gun, and found that it was
clogged up so could not blow through
1t. Procuring cap, placed it on the
nipple, and going to the front door,
pulled the trigger, and away she went,
with a report that awoke the neighbors
for blocks around, and filled the leaves
of cherry tree near by as full of holes
as skinner.
Then I thought of Tom, into whose
face had snapped the gun. The fact
that the cap had become damp alone
prevented the gun from being discharged
and blowing Toms head into smither-
Gems.
Though his afts4 life was q fzzle, and
he filled drunkard's grave at an early
age, yet how my life would have been
blighted if, through my boyish careless
ness, he had been killed. I vowed a
VOW at that time never to be careless
with firearms.
One more circumstance occurred after
L had grown to manhood. [ was stand
ing on pile of lumber, busily engaged
in measuring lumber, when, hearing q
''click" behind me, turned, and there
stood boatman pointing an army mus
ket squarely at my head, and he had
just snapped it at me. He was a man
so years old, and, under the first angry
impulse that came over me, 1 said:
"You old fool, You ought to know bet
ter than to snap gun at fellows head
in that careless way
"Ah, pshaw p said he, sit isn't load
ed"
GLOW do you know that 2"
"Because it has been lying around my
boat for more than six months, and L
know it isn't"
"Ihat's just the reason you don't
know anything about it," said I.
"Well, now, you're making such q
and show you. Here, hold the gun till
I come back"
While he was gone I ran the ramrod
down the barrel and found that it was
loaded.
When he returned with a cap I re-
moved the old one and replaced it with
a new one. Pointing the gun upward 1
pulled the trigger, and report followed,
the recoil from which nearly knocked
me off the lumber pile and raised the
boatman's hair on end.
"What do you think now" I asked.
"WelI," said he, ''that's the last time
I shall point gun at anybody if I live
100 years"
A damp cap alone saved me that time,
and though should not have been to
blame, yet this event would have blight
ed my life still more efectually than
the first one, for it would just have
blown my head off my shoulders, and
man who finds himself in that condi-
ton can but acknowledge that his life
is, in measure, blighted, and his future
plans and prospects somewhat inter
fered with.
Don't fool with firearms. If gun is
loaded, and everybody knows it is load
ed, there is very little danger. 1t is the
gun and the revolye-hich is not load
ed which goes off and kills folks, or
mains them for life. So the only safe
way is to handle them ut all times as
though they were loaded.
Get into the habit of so doing, then
it will become natural and easy to you,
and you may be spared the agony of
gazing urOn the mangled form of some
friend through whom you have let day
light.
Always keep behind the gun yourself,
and point the muzzle away from other
people.